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Behavioral Genetics and Developmental Disabilities
Published in Merlin G. Butler, F. John Meaney, Genetics of Developmental Disabilities, 2019
Currently, there are about one dozen studies that have examined communication disorders and language from a quantitative perspective (see Ref. (14), for a review). Some of the most intriguing research has emerged from a large population-based twin study in infancy and early childhood based in the United Kingdom. This study, called the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), involves a representative sample of around 10,000 pairs of twins born in 1994, 1995, and 1996 in England and Wales (see Ref. (15). All children are screened at ages 2, 3, and 4 using parental rating instruments for language delay, cognitive delay, and behavioral problems. At age 4, 400 families with twins who demonstrate language or cognitive delays and 300 control twins. These 700 twin pairs were tested in their homes using standardized measures. In addition to the results on mild mental impairment described above (9), this study has also examined communication disorders. The results of this study suggest that vocabulary delay in 2-and 3-year-olds is strongly influenced by genetic factors (h2g = 0.73), and has a higher heritability than the normal range of vocabulary ability (16). Similar results were found when examining the same sample at 4 years of age (17).
Is Female Psychopathy Linked with Child Abuse? An Empirical Investigation using a Person-Centered Approach
Published in Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 2019
Daniel Boduszek, Agata Debowska, Dominic Willmott, Adele D. Jones, Matthew DeLisi, Gillian Kirkman
In an insightful study, Fontaine, Rijsdijk, McCrory, and Viding (2010) examined trajectories of psychopathic features across childhood using data from the Twins Early Development Study, which is a population-based sample of twins selected from the United Kingdom. Among a variety of findings, the etiological factors relating to stable, highly psychopathic features were perhaps most interesting. When considering those with stable and high levels of psychopathic features, Fontaine et al. (2010) found substantial gender differences in the etiology of psychopathy. For males, 78% of the variance was attributable to genetic factors and just 1% of the variance was attributable to shared environmental factors, such as child abuse and neglect occurring within the home environment. For females, 0% of the variance was attributable to genetic factors and 75% of the variance was attributable to shared environmental factors, such as child abuse and neglect occurring within the home environment. Although adverse childhood experiences are broadly associated with increased psychopathology (Kendler et al., 2000; MacMillan et al., 2001), substance use (Dube et al., 2003; McGloin & Widom, 2001), externalizing and conduct problems (Gao, Raine, Chan, Venables, & Mednick, 2010; Krischer & Sevecke, 2008), and serious, violent, and chronic criminality (Craig, Piquero, Farrington, & Ttofi, 2017; Drury et al., 2017; Fox, Perez, Cass, Baglivio, & Epps, 2015), the aforementioned findings suggest that various forms of childhood abuse are particularly meaningful distal factors in the developmental of psychopathic personality features among girls.